


Voices In the Dark

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-05-03
Updated: 1999-05-03
Packaged: 2018-11-11 05:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11141736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: Frannie and Stan talk.





	Voices In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).

Voices In The Dark

## Voices In The Dark

by Sharon Jacobs 

Drama PG 

Email Author:

Ray impatiently stabbed at the elevator call button for the third time. "Come on! What's the hold up?" he demanded.

Frannie smirked at him, taking pleasure in his growing irritation. Actually, tormenting her pretend brother was the only pleasure she was getting these days, she thought glumly.

"Come ON!" he growled, banging on the panel. Then he noticed Frannie's expression and turned on her. "What are you so happy about? I'm going to be late for court and it's all your fault. You know Judge Collins hates me, and is just looking for an excuse to hold me in contempt, " he smacked his forhead in sudden realization. "That it, isn't it? That's why you didn't notice that you forgot your purse until we were half way here, and you made me turn around and go back for it. It's all part of your little plan to make my life miserable." 

Frannie's smile widened, "You're pathetic, and you need to get some sun."

"What's that got to do with anthing?" Ray asked puzzled.

"Nothing. I just thought I'd tell you. I mean if some crazed FBI agent shoves a stake through your heart by mistake, no one can blame me for not warning you."

The elevator chose that moment to arrive, and the two stepped inside. As Ray pressed the button for the ninth floor; Frannie reached into her purse and pulled out her compact and lipstick. It was Ray's turn to smirk.

"I don't think you need to go to all that trouble for Judge Collins. He's at least 95, and I'm sure whatever interest he had in woman has long since faded. Oh wait, I forgot. Fraser is going to be there. Now who's pathetic?" 

"Shut up, Stanley," she growled.

Ray clutched his heart , and sagged against the wall as if mortally wounded. "You really got me there, Fran. I don't know how I will recover." He straightened up and ran his hands through his short, spikey blond hair. "The drool must have made it's way into your brain; you can usually do better than that." 

"I have an idea. If I try very hard to pretend you don't exist, maybe my thoughts will affect the space time continuum and you'll just disappear forever. Then joy and happiness will return to the land."

"You've been watching Star Trek again, haven't you?"

Without warning, the elevator came to a halt and the lights went out leaving, the two in total darkness. Frannie shrieked. Ray fumbled around until he found the emergency phone, but it was dead. 

"The power must've gone out," Ray surmised.

"Ya think?!" Fran snapped. "What are we going to do? Do you have a flashlight or anything? I can't stand being in the dark like this." 

"Strangely enough, I didn't think I'd need a flashlight in court, so I left it in the car," Ray tried prying the doors open, but they were stuck shut. "Damn," he grunted and tried again.

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm trying to open the doors. Maybe we'll be able to crawl out. Give me a hand."

Holding her hands out in front of her, Frannie moved forward until she made contact with a solid object.

"Uh, Frannie, that's not the door," Ray said in a strained voice. 

"Sorry."

Ray moved aside, and they both tried to shift the doors, but they wouldn't budge. Ray finally gave up in disgust, and kicked the doors angrily. Panicked, Frannie pounded on them, and screamed, "Help! Help! Is there anybody out there? We're trapped in here!"

Ray reached out to where he thought her shoulder might be, and said soothingly, "Easy, Frannie. Everything will be all right. We're just going to have to wait for the power to come back on." 

She jerked away from him. "Okay, I can handle this. Dr, Blaine said it's health to face your fears. I should view this as a growth experience." She straightened up, and smoothed her clothes. "Okay, everything is fine now. I can cope with this. You go to one side of the elevator and I'll go to the other and we'll wait it out."

"Why do we have to go to different sides?" Ray's voice sounded a little petulant.

"Because I don't want to be groped in the dark," came the reply.

"Hey! You're the one who grabbed my. ."

"Just shut up and go over there," She pointed with exasperation. Realizing her mistake, she reached out and shoved Ray in the direction that she wanted him to go. 

Muttering under his breath, he moved away. Fran slowly felt her way along the wall until she came to the far end. She sank down to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. "I wish it was Fraser here instead of you," she moaned. 

Ray snorted. "I bet you do."

"Not because of that, and my don't you have a dirty mind, but because he would think of a way to rescue me. He'd go out through the roof and climb up the elevator cable with me clinging to his powerful shoulders. He would say, 'Don't worry, Franchesca. I would never let anything happen to you.' and I would whisper in his ear, 'I know Fraser. I trust you completely.' and when we'd reached safety he would take me in his arms and. . " she trailed off, glad that the darkness covered her red face.

"Go on, Franchesca. If you want to tell me your deepest, darkest sexual fantasies; I've got nothing better to do. I'll be happy to listen to them." The smuggness in his voice was unmistakable. 

"You are such a little pervert," she shot back. 

Ray slid down the wall and landed with a plop on the floor. "Can I give you a piece of 'brotherly' advice?"

"No."

"You're just making a fool of yourself over Fraser. He's never going to fall for you, and do you want to know why?"

"Not really."

"It's because he's got a thing for the Ice Queen. I've seen the way he looks at her. It's like a combination of sheer terror and total adoration. It's disgusting. And she feels the same way. When she things no one is watching her; she's always sneaking a glance at his butt."

Frannie shifted uncomfortably. "That doesn't prove anything. Any red-blooded, heterosexual woman would do the same. Fraser's butt is a thing of beauty, unlike your skinny little backside."

"There's no need to get personal," Ray said irritably. "I'm only trying to do you a favor. If you want to continue to be the laughingstock of the whole department, who am I to stop you?"

"You don't understand."

"Oh yeah?" he laughed. "You're so hot for Fraser that you can't think straight half the time. Nothing difficult to undertand about it." 

"Look Ray or Stan, or whatever personality is in charge at the moment, it's not about Fraser being gorgeous. Okay, that part of it, but mostly it's about what a decent guy he is. Before I met him, I'd given up on meeting a truly good man. Every guy, and I mean _every_ guy I've ever been out with has been scum, only after one thing. Sure, they treat you nice at first so they can get you in the sack, but then when they get what they want they throw you to the side and move on. When I met Fraser I knew he wasn't like that. I knew that he could love someone completely like the handsome prince in the fairytales my mom used to tell me; which ought to be illegal, by the way, because they really screw up a girl's head. So, you see, even though I can see that he doesn't feel anything for me, I can't give up. He's everything that I've been looking for my whole life."

They sat in silence for a moment. Finally Ray said, "Frannie, you've got to know when to cut your losses and walk away."

"I can't do it. I know I look like an idiot throwing myself at him.I know he'd probably rather sleep with my brother than me. ."

"That's the rumour going around," Ray interjected.

"Don't go there, okay? I know it's hopeless, but I'm not going to give up." She stretched out her legs and kicked off her shoes. Well, now that I've told you personal and embarassing things about myself, you have to tell me something about yourself."

"Sez who?"

"It would be the gentlemanly thing to do."

"I'm a pervert remember.'

"Come on, Ray. We're sitting her in the dark. We can't even see each others faces. Aren't you the slightest bit tempted to unburden yourself?"

Ray pondered this for a moment and then said, "All right. I was 12 years old and my cousin Leela came to spend the summer with us. She was a free spirited girl with enormous breasts. ."

"RAY!!"

"You said unburden myself."

"I didn't mean for you to turn this into a smut-o-rama. Tell me something personal, yet nonsexual."

"Okay. Did you know that Fraser is the best friend I've ever had?" he asked quietly.

Frannie frowned. "That doesn't sound too embarassing."

"Listen, Fraser is the best friend I've ever had in my whole life, but I'm just his pretend best friend. I'm only playing a part until your brother, the real Ray gets back. Then I'm outta here and everybody goes back to the way they were. Nobody wil even remember that I was around."

"It's not like that, Ray. I've seen the two of you together. You get along great; you're friends."

"Let me tell you a story. It was summer when I was 10 years old. My best friend Dave Nicoletti had gone to spend the summer with his grandparents in Florida. In fact, all my friends were either gone to camp or off to see relatives. So it looked like I would spend the whole summer with no one to hang out with, which is a terrible thing if you're a 10 year old. Well, anyway, there was only one kid left even close to my age; Ralph Oslo, the class weenie."

"Weenie?"

"Yeah. He was fat, he was constantly running his mouth, kind of like you, and his nose was always stopped up. You'd be sitting in the middle of class minding your own business, when suddenly, there would be this sonic boom, and you'd turn around and see Oslo honking away, trying to clear his nose. Like this," and Ray demonstrated, honking an wheezing until Fran shouted, 'Thank you Ray. I think I get the picture."

"Anyway," he continued, "I had the choice of either hanging with Oslo or spending the summer alone, needless to say I picked Oslo. We went to the movies together, rode our bikes, camped out in my backyard. I was always at his house or he was always at mine. One night we climbed the tree in the Mattsons's yard and watched Sheila Mattson change her clothes. She was the first real, live naked girl I'd ever seen. It was a religious experience. " He paused waiting for her objections, but surprisingly none came. "Looking back; it was the best summer I ever had, but eventually September came and all my friends came home."

Ray paused then, until Frannie got impatient and demanded," What happened next?"

"I remember the first day back in school. I was standing in the hall with Dave Nicoletti, when Oslo came up to and started talking to me. He was yammering on and on while Dave was about to fall out laughing. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and yelled, 'Shut up, weenie, and get away from me.' You should have seen the stunned look in his eyes, Frannie. He said, 'But I thought we were friends.' and I said, 'You're a weenie. You're not my friend."

"That's awful," Fran said with disgust. "Didn't you feel guilty doing that to him?"

"Not really. Not then," he shrugged. "The funny thing is that he was my friend. For as long as I need him. That's what's going to happen to me wen your brother gets back. Maybe it's my punishment for treating Oslo like I did."

"No way," Frannie insisted. "Fraser would never treat you like that. He doesn't have a cruel bone in his body."

"You're right. He won't dump me. We'll run into each other every now and then, and talk about old times. Maybe he'll invite me to track a moose with him or something, but what we have now will be gone."

"But if you feel this way about him, you should fight to keep him."

"It wouldn't do any good. I can't make him feel for me what he feels for someone else no matter how much I want him to."

After that, they said nothing for a long while. 

"Hey Ray?"

"Yeah, Frannie."

"I found a box of tic tacs in my purse. You want to split 'em?"

"Sure."

"You can come over to my side if you want."

"Okay. " Ray crawled over to her. His hand accidentily landed on her knee. Hastily, he pulled it away and said, "Sorry, Frannie."

"That's okay."

When the power finally came back on, and the elevator finally opened, Fraser was was treated to the sight of Ray and Frannie sitting in a corner, leaning on each other, fast asleep.

The End

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